Driving connection for floor polishers



Jan. 13, 1959 M. HRIPPLE O 2,857,825

DRIVINGy CONNECTION FOR FLOOR POLIsHERs Filed Oct. 4, 1956 2 sheetssneet1 Jan. 13, 1959 I M. H. RIPPLE u 2,867,825

DRIVING CONNECTION FOR FLOOR PoLIsHERs K Filed oet. 4. 1956 2sheets-sheet 2 A drive shaft thereof to the polishing brushes.-

United states Melvin H. Ripple, North Canton, Ohio, assignor to TheHoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio `Aindicationoctober 4, 1956, serial No. 613,876

2 Claims. (cl. 15-49)` The present invention relates to Afloor-polishersand furniture etc. as thepolisher is moved about.

more particularly to a means for attaching the spindle or According tothe broadest aspects of the present invention the brushes are assembledover the drive shaft by a reciprocatingmovement and then rotated ineither direction. wrong direction upon original assembly the arrangementis such that when the drive shaft begins'rotation the drive connectionwill right itself.

The drive connection of the presentv invention com- If, perchance, aparticular brush is rotated in the prisesa pin extending transverselythrough a slot inthe Y,

drive shaft biased towards the Polisher. Each end 4of the pin extendsbeyond the periphery of the drive shaft and the brush back is providedwith an opening for receiving the drive shaft with diametricallyopposite radial slots for receiving the drive pin so that the brush may.be slid over the end of the drive shaft. On the brush side the brushback is formed with cam recesses on both sides of the slots which areadapted to engage the ends of the drive pin when the brush is rotated ineither direction after it has been slid over the drive shaft. The camrecesses, four in number, are duplicated except that the ones onopposite sides of the radial extending slots extend in oppositedirection. The cam recesses are formed with t surfaces which slope inthe direction to move the drive pin towards the polisher againsty thebias of its spring. At the ends of the inclined surfaces are stopshoulders against which the end of the drive'pin abut when the brushback Iis rotated to its fullest extent. Immediatelyin front of the stopshoulders are recesses formed into which the ends of the drive pin areseated by the spring bias of the drive pin.

The inclined surfaces and recesses on each side of the radial slotswhich receive vthe ends of the drive pin serve a dual purpose. First,should the brush be rotated in the wrongdirection upon assembly, thatis, in the direction in which the brushes should be rotated, the drivingforce will automatically move the ends of the pin from a pair ofrecesses in which they are then located into the recesses on theopposite sides of the radial slots. Second, an arrangement in which thetwo brushes may be reversed from one drive spindle to the other when thebrushes become worn from continuous rotation in the same direction. l

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a polisher partly in section and showingdetails of the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. l and lookingin the direction of the-arrows,

Fig. 3 is a segmental bottom view showing the cam sur faces on thebottom of the brush backs, and

Fig. 4 is a developed view of the cam surfaces on the dot-dash line ofFig. 3.

The polisher is generally represented by the reference 2,867,825 lPtentedJan. 13, 1,959

numeral 10 and comprises a main frame 11 upon which all of the workingparts are mounted. The frame 11 is surrnounted by the. appearancehousing 12 which houses a motor (not shown) for driving the polishingand/or scrubbing brushes 13 and 14 which rotate in the direction of thearrows shown in Fig. 1. A combined bumper guard and skirt A1,5 surroundsthe frame 11 beneath the hood 12. The element 15 is made of softmoldable material such as rubber or other soft thermoplastic materialand functions as a bumper in preventing the marring of It also fucntionsasa splash guard to prevent dirty water from beingprojected outwardly bythe brushes 13 and 144 when the polisher is used as a floor scrubber.l

The polisher is adapted to be propelled about by a handle 9 which ispivoted tothe frame 11 and projects through slots formed in the housing`12 so as to have free pivotal movement. l

lBrushes 13 and 14 are driven in opposite directions, as shown, bysuitable gearing connected between the -motor shaft and the drive shafts16, one of which is shown in'Fig. 1. Y

The driving connection of the present invention includes a drivingmember.` 17 drivinglyy connected tothe lower end olf-each shaft 16. Eachmember 17 is provided with a transverse. slot 18 and longitudinal bores19 closed by cap `20"which also formswa part of 4'a connection by whicha polishing pad may be attached to the brushes in a manner well known inthe art.

The slot.18 receives a driving pin 21 which' is spring biased in anupward direction by springs 22 which are housed within the bores 19.

The brushes 13 and 14 each include a brush back 23 having drilled holes24 in which the bristles 25 are stapled as shown. Each brush back isformed with a bore 26 for the reception ofthe drive member 17. The bore26 -is formed with radial `extensions 2'7, 180 apart which extendentirely through the brush back for receiving the ends of the drive pin21 as the brush backs are assembled to the drive shafts.

On the under side of the brush backs, about the periphery of bores 26,are formed four ycam recesses 30, 31, 32 and 33 whichare alike incontour except that recesses 32 and 33 extends in an opposite directionfrom the slots 27 than recesses 31 and 30 respectively. Each cam recessincludes an inclined cam surface 35, a stop shoulder 36 and a recess 37.

Method of assembly As shown in Fig. 1 the brushes rotate in thedirection of the arrows. To attach the left hand brush in the properdriving relationship the brush back 23 is applied to the driving member17 by sliding it thereover with bore 26 receiving its end. During thatoperation the ends of the drive pin 21 will pass through slots 27 and bepositioned between the inclined surfaces 35 with the bottom of the brushback in alignment therewith. Since the left y hand brush normallyrotates clockwise as viewed from the bottom, it will then be rotatedclockwise as viewed in Fig. 3 so that the ends of the drive pin 21 willmove into Vcam recesses 31 and 33. Similarly the right hand brush isrotated counterclockwise so that the ends of the drive pin will moveinto cam recesses 30 and 32. During that action the ends of the drivepin ride under the inclined cam surfaces 35 and cause the pin 21 tomove`the Hoor will cause the door brushes to momentarily remain stationarywith the result that `the ends ofthe drive pin will move into the propercam recesses. During that action the Weight of the polisher and theinclined cam surfaces 3'5 ,will preventpthe end'vq thel drive pin 'frommoving into slots 27. Itis obvious that it makes no` difference whichbrushes are applied to aparticular drive vshaft and thaty the brushesmaybe freely'reversed.

'While Ihaveshownfbut a single embodimentof my invention it is to b eunderstod that that embodiment is Vto, be taken as illustrative only andnot in a 'limiting sense.

Ido not wish to be limited ,to the particular structure shown anddescribed but wish to include all -equivalent variations thereof exceptas limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim: l

a downwardly sloping cam surface for moving said drive pin downwardlyagainst-thebias of said spring means as said brushes rotate duringassembly, stops against which the ends of said drive pin abut when saidbrush is assembled and a recess in front of each of said stops intowhich the ends of said drive pin snap under the bias of ksaid springmeans as said brushistassembled, the arrangement .bengsuch that saidbrush may bemtated in either directionv during assembly'to saiddrivexshaft to vbring the ends of said IpinA againstrvone pair of.saidstopsvhwherebythe ends -Qf said, pin `will move against .theA @opPQSite:pair- 0f said stops and remain assembled should the brush berotatedWhile resting on the oorin adirection to move said one pair of stopsawayfrom the ends of the drive pin;

'1, In aoor polisher, a rotatable vertically extending drive shaft, adrive lpin extending through a transverse `in either direction as it is`assembled tosaid drive` shaft,

saidcam recesses each having the same contour including 2. In a floorpolishenaccording'to `claim l in which the highest portion of each ofsaid cam recesses is positioned at a vertical point normally the same asthat of the top of the ends of said drive pin whereby lthe ends 0f..Saidydrive p irxmay'move -pastsaid radial `extensions into 'the cam recesseson the opposite side' of said radial extensions by rotation 'of saiddrive shaft in the reverse direction;

References'Cited initheiile of this patent UNITED vSTATES PATENTS1,728,520 yWadhams Sept 1,7, 1929 1,938,309 Sassano Dec. 5," 19332,"15,7,`1'53 vTroche May '9, v19,39 2,524,995

lSassano oct; 10, V1950

